


You Can't Cancel Quidditch

by Ivanisamarauder



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, F/F, F/M, M/M, Quidditch, Quidditch World Cup, relationships will be later in the fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-19 09:14:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29624031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivanisamarauder/pseuds/Ivanisamarauder
Summary: Katie Bell struggles to exist in a world so filled with darkness. She and her friends struggle alongside the other students od Hogwarts as the Dark Lord rises to power.
Relationships: Angelina Johnson/Fred Weasley, Cho Chang/Cedric Diggory, Katie Bell & Lee Jordan & Fred Weasley & George Weasley, Katie Bell/Oliver Wood
Kudos: 3





	1. Friends and Grims

Katie Bell sat cross-legged on the end of Oliver’s bed. It was impossible to count how many times she had been up here in the last four years, whether it was to wake him up for an early run, to talk about quidditch games, or even just to do homework in the quiet and solace of his room---Percy demanded silence. There was a comfort here, a safety she hadn’t known anywhere else other than the pitch.

See, Oliver had claimed her as his friend since she was a lanky little 12 year old her first year--she turned 11 on September 3, so she had to wait a whole extra year to go to Hogwarts. He had, admittedly, mistaken her for a second year, pointing out her Puddlemere United sticker on her trunk. To this day she could replay the conversation word for word in her head:

> Katie had just gotten onto the train and was looking for a car when a tall, broad-shouldered student looked down at her.
> 
> “Chudley totally stole the game last month,” the figure had noted, a small spark of excitement gleaming in his eyes. She would later realize that this look accompanied Olvier whenever Quidditch was mentioned at all.
> 
> He had a Puddlemere United jumper on and he offered her a wider smile. Katie didn’t reply right away, she was struggling with dragging her trunk down the corridor of the train cars.
> 
> “Don’t you agree?”
> 
> Whoever had spoken to her followed her, so she paused, blinking up at him. She was mostly alarmed that someone had addressed her at all today.
> 
> “Excuse you?” Katie put on her best posture when she looked up at him, tugging on the handle again. Her mother would be proud.
> 
> “Puddlemere was robbed. The refs called a foul against Frankfurt when she was clearly in the right to knock Desmond off his broom. He totally reamed her with the bludger and busted her broom on purpose. Brilliant seeker, she is.”
> 
> Katie tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes, confused by the older student. Why was he talking to her? Though, when he talked about Puddlemere she smiled. It was, afterall, her favorite team. Something inside her told her, right there, he was her kind of person and she hoped that he stuck by her--at least until they got off the train.
> 
> No sooner than she had thought about Oliver staying with her, he took the handle of her trunk and pulled on the deep-blue handle encrusted with an Eagle.
> 
> Oliver Wood guided her to a car and opened the door for her, putting her trunk up onto a rack. That was where she realized why he’d spoken to her about Quidditch; she had a royal-blue Puddlemere United sticker stuck to her trunk. That detail had slipped her mind while she was trying not to fall apart on her first train ride.
> 
> “I’m Oliver. I’m going out for keeper again this year. You gonna try out for your house? Ravenclaw’s team isn’t like ours, but they have a good captain this year, and second years can have their own broom. You bring one?”
> 
> Oliver’s question threw her off--she was a first year and wasn’t even in a house yet. Well, that and Quidditch was one of those forbidden topics in the Bell house, especially since there were more serious things to mull over, like Goblin Laws and Werewolf Registry Policies. No one really asked her about Quidditch.
> 
> Katie knew that it was expected she would get Ravenclaw, and maybe she should have admitted that, but there was that twinge of independence inside her that hoped she broke her mother’s house expectations.
> 
> “I--” Katie paused and watched the boy’s kind face, still not sure if this was a trick or not. He plopped into a seat and waved at a tall boy with ginger hair. No, not just one, two. “I’m a first year student, I can’t--I’m not a Ravenclaw. I mean, I haven’t been sorted.”
> 
> Her cheeks were as red as a phoenix now, but there was no time to be embarrassed because those two boys walked backwards and shoved themselves into the car with them, tossing Olvier (that was his name, right?) a licorice wand.
> 
> “Oli-kins is making friends with first years?” One of the red-haired boys mused. The second boy sat down next to Katie and grinned, speaking again in unison with his identical counterpart. “Ignore him, he’s Quidditch obsessed. You’ll be sick of him in a week. Cup obsessed, really.”

Katie knew now that the twins had listened to Oliver dote about quidditch for years before Katie came to save them. Brilliant beaters, but they didn’t love the game like she and Oliver did. She also knew that she never, not once, grew sick of Oliver Wood’s antics in any way. To this day, Katie could talk about Quidditch for hours with Wood. That’s why they were friends--he understood that lurch she got in her stomach when a quaffle touched her hands. Love. Oliver was in love with the exact same thing she was.

She was drawn out of her memory when Oliver put a blue scarf next to her on the bed with a small pile of jumpers he still needed to pack away for travel. Watching him work through how to pack all his books, quidditch gear, and goodbye presents all into the small trunk was a little painful. It was a strange moment for her, bitter-sweet even; he was the one person she had actually grown to fully trust in the school and he wouldn’t be here next year.

This brought a somber atmosphere about the room, and they could both feel how thick the air was between them. Whatever high they had from winning The Cup was mellowed by two very real, and painful, truths: Oliver was leaving (Katie was spiteful that Angelina was rumored to be top-pick to be captain next year), and the world felt somehow darker now.

“Mother sent me the prophet,” she said, breaking the palpable silence. Black’s escape meant that she wouldn’t be making it to the Cup this summer. Katie wasn’t a bright pupil, but she wasn’t stupid. “She took out the sports section like she always does. You’ll mail them to me next year so I can keep up with your stats?”

Oliver’s head turned to the near-fifth year. She could feel her throat sting with dejection. She understood why her friends teased her for being in love with Oliver, she did, but this sadness, the brokenheartedness wasn’t from some epic or powerful romantic love--that was inappropriate and, frankly, always the last thing from either of their minds.

“Katie-Kat, there is no way I am going to deprive my biggest fan, president of my fan club, of Quidditch information. I’ll send it; signed, sealed, and even attach some chocolate.”

“Oh, so you’ll send Romilda Vane some chocolates when you write to her?” Katie teased, smirking up at her friend just a little.

He folded a set of robes, scoffing and holding back a grin, and Katie straightened her legs and let her feet touch the floor.

“Yes, I will make sure Ms. Vane gets all my sweaty game socks, autographed Prophet articles, and all the chocolate frogs she desires,” he laughed. Romilda had followed him around all year. The puppy-love wasn’t subtle and Katie had a lot of second-hand embarrassment for the girl.

“Perfect. She’ll love it.” There was a beat of silence. “How’re we supposed to win the cup without our best keeper next year?”

Her words were laced with meaning, and she knew he felt it too. Their friendship was going to end, or at least wane, and they both knew it.

“Shush. Diggory isn’t even that good of a seeker, and you’ll have Potter,” Oliver noted. “Chang is their reserve seeker, so when your cousin slips off his broom, you’ll have no Hufflepuff competition. Ravenclaw is Ravenclaw, and Malfoy is a twat. Anyway, Flint is leaving with me and he was the last Slytherin with any kind of talent on that team.”

Katie didn’t hold back her laugh. Oliver’s crimson robes went into the trunk, covering a stack of books she knew he would never read again, and she tightened her grip on the copy of the Prophet her mother had sent that evening, though the most information was in the letter that had accompanied the news. It was labeled CONFIDENTIAL in her mother’s writing.

Katie’s mother, Kathleen Bell, was a magical prosecutor for the Wizengamot and insisted Kathrine Bell knew all about the inner and outer workings of the ministry when false information was being spread.

For once, Katie was glad her mother kept her in the loop and had read the small note at least a dozen times since the end-of-term feast.

> **Kathrine,**   
>  **Do not go out alone. He has not just escaped; I am certain that he’s killed another. The ministry is at the school, I am sure they were in danger. The ministry put him in prison and the best way to harm us is to harm those we love. Stay inside.**   
>  **-K. Diggory-Bell**

The news that Sirius Black had escaped again made Katie nervous. When she had mentioned how stressed it made her at dinner, Angelina had brushed her off and said that the twins had looked at Harry and declared that his escape wasn't factual, that the ministry was lying again. Angelina agreed with Fred (Katie was not surprised).

As for Katie, she was sure that her mother was being earnest: there was a very real threat out there and she hated that because Harry Potter was grinning at some dinner, covered in blood again, everyone assumed there was no more danger. It was as if he had helped capture Sirius Black. Those were rumors, and she didn’t believe a single one.

Her mind was brought back to the moment when Percy opened the door and huffed at Katie’s presence. She folded the paper in her hands and tucked it away into her pockets, not sharing any of the information with Oliver.

She heard more voices entering the common room and she would rather Alicia Spinnet not find her up here again, accusing her of snogging Oliver Wood. No matter how many times she told the girls that the age difference was too weird, they never believed either of them. She was fifteen, he was nearly eighteen. He was of age, he was her friend. There was nothing like that there, not ever.

Oliver stepped towards her, and she knew that he could sense her anxiety, even if he didn’t know how worried she was about her mother’s safety, her own safety. No matter how much she fought with her mother, the idea of losing her was overwhelming.

She could feel the guilt radiate from him.

“Stop that,” she said, shaking her head and clearing her throat, waving her hand. “You’re gonna go kick ass with the big leagues, I will hold the fort down here, and we will write to each other. Deal?”

Oliver nodded. He was silent.

Over the last four years he had, despite the protests from her mother, become solace when the world felt darker. During her third year, when there were attacks on Muggle-Borns, Oliver talked Katie off a ledge of panic about being murdered by some psycho-student. She had been certain that ministry families were next. He reminded her that she was as pure as they got and that he was more likely to get attacked than she was. It was unsettling, but she stopped panicking a little.

He wasn’t speaking and she had nothing else to say to him, not right now.

“I’ll see you on the train tomorrow,” she told him.

“Don’t have such a long face,” he told her. “Mum says that she’s sent owls inviting you to come this summer. You’re going to stop by, yeah? Be at the cup?”

Katie inhaled the cool air slowly and looked back over her shoulder at him.

“Yeah, I’ll come,” she lied. Katie knew good and well that Kathleen wouldn’t let her out of the house at all this summer, not with a murderer on the loose. Katie would be stuck at the Bell house and participating in the summer internship program through her mother’s department. She was nearly sixteen, afterall. It was time to start prioritizing the ministry and her career, or so said Kathleen.

When she found her way to her four-poster in the fourth-year girl’s dorm she stopped, staring at her pillow. In the center there was a shining, gold stopwatch with K. R. B engraved on the front and a lion etched on the back. She’d seen that stopwatch at least four times a week since she was 13, but this was the first time that it brought tears to her eyes.

Katie unfolded the note.

> Katie Kat,  
> You’re unstoppable. Prove it.  
> -O.W-

Funny how Oliver Wood would still find a way into Gryffindor practices even when he was playing professionally. Tosser.


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie listens to the consequences of the Wold Cup.

Katie was supposed to be sleeping, she had to be at her internship in the morning, but she had been up listening to the radio-coverage of the game when there was the crack of someone apparating into their home. Barty Crouch’s voice was panicked. His voice traveled easily through the house. Katie heard the worry in his voice, the panic that was exchanged between him and her mother.

“It’s two in the morn--A...what? That’s impossible, they’re not using the mark anymore, Bartemus.” Kathleen’s tone was worried and laced with disbelief. It was rare her mother sounded so _vulnerable_ , and that made Katie’s ears perk. 

“It’s settled now, and we are silencing the papers until morning--Kathleen, we have--” His voice was muffled now.

“Of--of--yes, of course I will end vacation early. No, I--ten minutes.” There was a crack--Mr. Crouch must have left-- and Kathleen’s voice was traveling up the stairs talking with Albert. Katie blew out her candle, buried her face into her pillow, and listened for her father’s voice try to stay calm. 

“They’ll need me at Mungo’s then,” he said to his wife when she came upstairs. “There’s bound to be injuries.”

It wasn’t long before her mother and father left in two separate cracks. Katie sat up and went downstairs. The alarms were up, she could see the iridescent glimmer of the protection charms. 

\--

She’d sat up with the radio on, listening to eye-witness accounts. 

> _Death Eaters, saw them set our tents on fire._
> 
> _Nothing like it since the war in ‘79. Dark smoke, screaming. I want my money back._
> 
> _Someone was flinging those muggles around, forgetting about the laws. Thick sods, the lot of them._
> 
> _They right ruined a good Quidditch celebration._

The night, the sunrise, and morning all bled together like it was one long, anxious minute. Except that minute lasted what felt like ten years had passed. With every account she became more and more nervous. Her friends were there: Oliver, Angelina, Fred and George, and even Harry and Ginny had been there. There was no word on anything, but she wasn’t sure if no news was good news or not. 

For the first time in five summers, there was no family breakfast. The silence throughout the house was brutal. Katie was alone and the house elf kept asking if she’d gotten an owl from Master and Mistress.

By noon her father had come home and he looked like he’d fought a dragon all night. Dark half-moons settled under his eyes, and Katie thought he had aged about ten years overnight.

Albert stood at the back door waiting for his wife to come home, and Katie waited for the Daily Prophet to arrive. When it did, she tipped the owl with treats and sent it on its way. 

Her eyes couldn’t tear away from the bold words that ran across the pages of the paper. This was the first time Katie was ever glad that her mother had withheld Quidditch from her. 

> **Dark Mark Seen at World Cup**
> 
> **Muggles Exposed to Magic, Suspects Still at Large**
> 
> **Dark Wizards Infiltrate the Cup**

The headlines painted a picture of the dastardly night, but the shifting images that came with the articles were worse. The images from the night flashed before her eyes and her hands shook with rage. There were muggles flying through the air, and someone took the time to capture a picture. Someone captured this spectacle instead of helping those in danger. 

Both of her eyes drew back to the inflamed tents, people scattering, and a glowing image of what headlines said was _THE Dark Mark._ Katie had heard of the Dark Mark before, she was the daughter of a ministry official and had studied the wizarding war. There was something about seeing the mark above the faces of people she knew that made her want to throw up. 

There was a crack and Katie looked up from the table to see her parents embracing and whispering to one another. She’d seen them worried, but this time was different. The paper fell in front of her and they came inside.

“Kathrine, it’s impolite to stare,” Kathleen noted as she made tea. Katie noticed a new scratch across her mother’s cheek. The kitchen smelled of burnt fabric, so it didn’t take long for her to realize her mother’s work robes were singed. “Go get dressed, we’ve got an appointment at Madam Malkin’s in an hour. You’ve got to get new robes, you grew at least five centimeters this summer.”

Katie did as she was told.

\---

After they arrived home, Fluster, their house elf, took Katie’s new robes up to her room and then brought them tea. There was something calming about how mundane the evening was, but Katie hated that they hadn’t said anything about the events that had unfolded the previous night. 

“I’m not a baby anymore,” she suddenly commented as they sipped. The biscuits remained untouched--none of them had the appetite. “You can tell me what’s happening, I’ve read the papers. I saw the photographs.”

The look her mother gave her could have killed a mermaid. Still, Katie pressed. 

“Mum, what’s hap--”

“Kathrine,” her mother interrupted. Her face was stern and Katie knew to drop the topic. “Your father and I are going to be away this weekend. You leave for school next week and we’ve received word that you will need a formal gown this term. You’ll go to London and go to the muggle shops with Angelina. You will catch the muggle train with her home and your father and I will take you to the Hogwarts Express on the first. Then, we will meet with you in Hogsmeade for a visiting weekend in October.”

Before Katie could muster a response about how she didn’t need to have a dress, a green fire erupted from their fireplace in the library. 

“Albert,” Kathleen said, gesturing to her husband to leave the dining room with her. “Office, now. Kathrine, you’re to go to bed. You’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

Katie opened her mouth to argue, but she wasn’t given the opportunity. 

“I will be up to speak with you later.” Her mother was forceful, sure, but somewhere under her words was a shaken voice that was _almost_ maternal. No, not almost. It was maternal and she had never really experienced that from her mother before. Katie realized that her mother was worried about more than safety, and it was in Katie’s best interest to listen and let her parents speak with their guest.

Well, she partially listened. She left the room and stood in silence outside of the library. 

“Albert, you should have--” There was a snap of two fingers and then immediate silence. 

“Miss. Katie should be in bed like she was told,” her house elf instructed. The loyalty their elf had to her mother’s orders was frustrating, had been since she was a child. Katie trudged away with a scowl.

\---

The next week was a blur. Their home became protected by charms, aurors stood guard at the entrance to their property, and Kathleen was working twelve hour days. Katie did go shopping in London, and the rest of Katie’s school supplies were ordered in by owl--there wouldn’t be another trip to Diagon Alley.

During this time there were rumors traveling through the ministry, or so her mother said at night when they were sitting down to tea. Katie thought it strange her mother was sharing with her in the room, but she didn’t complain; knowing something, even miniscule facts, was better than nothing at all. 

Some wizards said the attacks were poor sportsmanship, that there were no dark wizards at the Cup, just drunken losers making jokes to scare people. Others were _sure_ that there were Death Eaters at the game.

Katie didn’t know what to think, but her mother had her own theories, and refused to share them. Kathleen did, however, put together a petition to stop some tournament that was supposed to be happening this year, but she was met with obstacles and howlers that told her “to keep her nose in her own department.” Ludo Bagman was a terrible sport.

Instead of dwelling on whatever fear and anxieties her mother brought into the house, Katie decided to answer the owls she had ignored since the Cup. 

> Angelina,
> 
> ~~Looking forward to Quidditch.~~ * **_No, Katie, you cannot mention Quidditch right now.*_ **
> 
> ~~What did you do this summer?~~ **_*You cannot ask about her summer.*_**
> 
> ~~_Kathleen said that I can’t come shopping this year._ ~~
> 
> Miss you, Ang. See you next week. Wish we knew what those dresses are for. Dumbledore won’t ask us to wear them to classes, will he? 
> 
> Save me a seat on the train? 
> 
> -Katie

Her letter to Alicia was identical--she was struggling to find what to say or how to express anything right now. Her candle went out, and she went to bed, praying that the train ride tomorrow wouldn’t be as eventful as the Cup had been.

\---

The train was more divided than ever this year. People murmured as others walked by, there were more languages being used than usual. [Theodore Nott](https://images1.miaminewtimes.com/imager/u/745xauto/11312806/anthony_ramos.jpg) was speaking quickly in Spanish when she passed him getting on the train, though he stopped talking when the line to the cars backed up and noticed she was listening. He’d said something about his father and the Quidditch game, but she didn’t catch anything else before he switched back to English and told her to sod off.

The door to every train car was closed and not open to inviting others in, which was a reasonable response knowing what happened at the Cup. Some students worried that dementors would join them on the train again, but Katie was glad to see that was another half-baked rumor.

Some students did ask her about what her mother was saying, quoting the murmurs about a ministry conspiracy had surfaced in articles (thanks to Rita Skeeter…). Others were sure Sirius Black was behind it all, celebrating his second escape. Katie just wanted to stop hearing about it and to stop being considered some ministry expert because it put her on edge.

To avoid talking, she wrote a letter on the train.

> _Oliver,_
> 
> _You went to the cup. Harry told me when I saw him. Said you were playing for Puddlemere. It’s cute that he thought I didn’t know!_
> 
> _Mad-Eye Moody is our DADA teacher this year--mum told me at the beginning of the summer. Mum hates him and almost made me drop the course, but I reminded her it’s OWLs this year. I think he’s mad as hell, but I bet he has a lot of stories, so I am excited._
> 
> _Miss you. I’ll write to you later this week to tell you why I am going to have the absolute worst year ever._
> 
> _Your biggest fan,_
> 
> _Katie Bell._

The last “L” in her name became a bit of a trail when Cho opened the door to the car and walked in, startling Katie. Cho pulled down the curtain and peeked through the blinds holding Pumpkin Pasties. Katie put the quill she was using away and rolled up the parchment; It was almost certain to smudge now, but she ignored that fact while she tied it to the leg of her owl and pulled down the window. 

“Who’re you hiding from?” Katie asked, startling Cho a little. Seemed fair, Katie got a jump earlier. Cho’s cheeks turned the color of cherries and shook her head. 

“No one.” 

Katie rolled her eyes and moved her things so Cho could sit. Her friends were lovely, but they cared too much about things like boys and being embarrassed. Before the end of the ride, the carriage filled with Alicia, Angelina, Ginny, and the twins. Her friends were all together and she did feel a tinge of contentment and normalcy. Maybe **_they_ **didn’t care about what the ministry was buzzing about. That was fine with her. Katie was just glad to be headed into her fifth year with her friends and Quidditch on her horizon.


	3. Burnt Trolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie and the gang are reunited for the first time since Spring term. Katie and her friends annoy the prefects, play exploding snaps, and learn a little bit about love.
> 
> Thanks to my favorite Lily Evans for "Annabeth Taylor".

“They can’t just cancel Quidditch,” Katie complained, stomping up the stairs with contempt. “And for what? Some competition that only three people get to compete in? How is that even fair?”

Angelina was just nodding and humming in agreement. Since they had found out about the Triwizard Tournament at dinner, it was all anyone could talk about. The twins were scheming how to get into the game, but Katie was fixated on the loss of Quidditch. 

The first years were still getting the lecture from the prefects about proper common room behavior when Katie, Angelina, Lee, and the twins shuffled through the portrait. 

“Ah, rubbish!” Fred noted, scrunching his nose when a prefect explained that dung bombs in the dormitory had been added to the list of undesirable and punishable artifacts. Katie and Angelina laughed too because everyone knew the twins were the reason for the ban. 

Fred continued, encouraged by the laughter and joy that came from his friends. “You forget that dung bombs are the second best way to start the morning!” 

Fred winked at Angelina and Katie watched her friend’s face turn three shades darker. If anyone didn’t know the two started dating over the summer, they knew now. 

Katie’s body fell back onto the sofa still laughing, and Lee Jordan fell beside her. She’d forgotten how small those couches were. Lee’s leg rested against her, and even when she curled up she couldn’t avoid the contact. When she glanced across the common room, she saw Ginny catch on to her brother’s joke.    


“Freddie, I have a feeling you’re going to make plans for your two favorite morning activities tomorrow,” Lee teased and nudged Katie, clearly hoping for her laugh.

“Let me get up and out for lessons before you make the house smell like shit,” Katie noted with a nose scrunch. “I have zero plans to go around the castle smelling like a toilet.”

“Language!” The prefects spat, shaking a finger at the group who had all fallen into their spaces. It wasn’t often that Katie got reprimanded, so her embarrassment was obvious. Her body slumped down into the cushions. 

Fred squeezed in next to Angelina in the chair, and George sat on the arm of a couch Katie and Lee had claimed. 

“Be an example, you two,” George scowled, glancing back at the prefect walking away. “No profanity allowed around the Lion Cubs.”

There was no doubting that the laughter that followed would annoy the prefects and everyone around them. The year had begun and their group was back together. 

George pulled out a game of exploding snaps. The corners of the deck were singed, probably from an intense game over the summer, but they played anyway. 

The group’s voices boomed with laughter. Lee protested several of his inflamed cards, and Fred was clearly taking the cards from Angelina that were about to explode in her hands (sacrificing the tips of his fringe). To Katie’s surprise, Lee did the same for Katie; he snatched a mountain troll card mid-explosion, leaving a small bit of ash against the ebony of his cheek. There was one round where Lee peeked at Katie’s cards, slid her a giant squid, which stopped her card from exploding all together. When she won the round, Lee beamed for her and playfully squeezed her knee. 

By three in the morning all of their eyes were falling with exhaustion, but not one of them wanted to be the first to stand. Fred and Angelina had stopped playing by this point and started whispering. They stood after a few seconds and dropped their cards in George’s lap. George rolled his eyes, packed up, and left, leaving Lee and Katie alone on the couch. 

Lee cleared his throat a little and chuckled to himself a little. 

“Two best friends alone in a room, they might kiss,” Lee commented. His mouth curled up into a playful smirk. It made Katie’s stomach fall a little, but she ignored it. 

“You’re right, Lee Jordan,” Katie said, rolling her eyes and trying to diffuse whatever tension had risen. Her body shifted forward, but Lee’s hand reached over and turned her cheek towards him. He pulled her lips against his and, for some reason, her head rushed and her eyes fluttered shut. 

“Told you. Two best friends, alone in a room. Might kiss,” Lee muttered when he pulled back. 

Katie tried to fight back the smile across her lips and shook her head. 

“You really are something, Lee Jordan.”

It was a strange, and beautiful, start to the term. 

\--

Unfortunately, Fred and George were not joking about Gryffindor waking up to  _ dung bombs _ the next morning. The acrid smell of the smoke billowed up into the fifth-year girl’s dorm, disrupting the best sleep Katie had had since last spring. 

“Angelina, I am going to murder your boyfriend,” Katie snarled to herself, pressing her face deep into her pillow. Not even the duck feathers and scent of her lavender shampoo could mask that smell. “We are going to go to lessons smelling like we died.”

This was the fastest that Katie had gotten dressed in a while--partially because she was late. She stuffed her bag full of her books, her wand--making sure she had her extra hair tie wrapped around the leaf-engraved handle--and a quill. 

“G’morning,” Lee said quietly to her when she sat down across from the twins. She hadn’t even noticed that he was there, which she immediately felt guilty about. Not five hours ago she was snogging him in the common room, and she had really not stopped trying to process. His presence was a surprise because, for some reason, her mind had compartmentalized her processing it by not planning to talk about it with him unless he brought it up. 

“Good morning, Lee,” Katie returned when she reached around him and grabbed a bagel to drop on her plate. It was impossible to ignore how red her cheeks got when she brushed against him, so she was very grateful that George was talking to Ginny and Fred was flirting with Angelina. Before she could grab one, Lee had already placed the soft-cooked egg on the toasted bagel and pushed the plate of bacon towards her. It was good that Katie didn’t see Angelina’s eyebrow quirk up because she would have disappeared right there.

“You take it with egg, yeah?” he inquired. It was like he was reading her mind, and for a second she forgot that he’s been her friend for four years and that it was normal for him to know something like that. She, afterall, knew how Angelina took her grits from that time they visited America two summers ago. 

Katie picked up a tabasco sauce with a nod, shaking some of the red liquid onto her egg before adding bacon to the top. She was glad that she was running late because that meant she ate fast and didn’t need to address that Lee was talking to her about the canceled quidditch tryouts and O.W.Ls this year. When she went to stand, Lee picked up her bag and smiled. 

“Headed to transfiguration myself,” he told her. “Let’s meander that way?”

“We have twenty minutes until class starts,” Fred reminded Lee. Katie caught the look Lee shot at Fred. “Ouch, Ang--” Angelina cut him off with a sharp look and a kick under the table. 

Katie reached out and took her bag from Lee, tempted to just walk away without saying anything at all. 

“Fine, okay,” she agreed, trying not to acknowledge how uncomfortable everything had just gotten. 

It wasn’t until they passed Ron and Harry talking about the tournament that she remembered that she was, in fact, going to spend the year without quidditch. When she left the great hall with Lee, they heard Cedric talking about how Amos all but expected him to enter the tournament.

“Dad says it’s an honor to participate, and he said it would open up a lot of opportunities after I take my N.E.W.Ts,” she heard him say to Cho Chang and Annabeth Taylor, two Ravenclaws who were headed to the same class as Katie. “Even if I lose, he said the glory of participating will get me any job right out of Hogwarts.”

Her uncle was, sadly, exactly like her mother in many ways. She didn’t reflect on that thought long, mostly because she didn’t much want to think about how  _ elitist  _ her family was. And her thoughts were cut off by Lee Jordan’s fingers boldly slipping between hers. It didn’t feel  **bad,** but she was caught off guard and was glad to have reached her charms lesson. 

“I’ll see you after--I--” Katie stammered a little, hating how idiotic she sounded. “I will see--I’ll be in the library between lessons and lunch, if you--”

“I will meet you in the library with a peanut butter sandwich, Katie Bell,” Lee told her. “At your usual table between Quidditch and Questionable Troll laws.”

In class Katie couldn’t focus at all. So she wrote Oliver a letter.

> _ Oliver,  _
> 
> _ It’s day one and the twins already set off a dung bomb, Alicia was up all night studying (already?!), and there’s something called the Triwizard Tournament or something. It’s replacing quidditch. They’ve canceled quidditch. And I wish I were kidding. That all but said this bloody tournament is more important than the cup, which is rubbish. _
> 
> _ I’m still going to run practices, even if there is no team. I am not taking a year off of training because some git thinks that some historical game is worth ruining an entire school year. _
> 
> _ Fred and Angelina might become insufferable, honestly. I might have to find Alicia in the mornings because I watched Fred feed Ang a whole grape at breakfast and I think that is--it was too much, really. Priorities. _
> 
> _ Tell me about practices to keep me from gagging, please? Also, like, is Fortworth as beautiful as his Rookie Card shows? Because, SIR! _
> 
> _ Miss you already, Oliver Wood.  _
> 
> _ -K. Bell. _
> 
> ~~_ P.s: I think….I am dating Lee Jordan?  _ ~~
> 
> ~~_ P.s: Lee Jordan kissed me and I think he’s playing a trick on me? _ ~~
> 
> _ ~~P.s: How do you date?~~   
>  _ _   
>  _ _ P.s: I will keep you updated on this stupid situation. I am going to schedule a meeting with Minnie to get quidditch back.  _

Katie was interrupted by the sudden drop of a book on her desk and a click of Flitwick’s tongue. 

“Tell Mr. Wood that you should be more interested in disillusionment charms, Miss. Bell.”

She was clearly not paying as much attention as he would have liked. 


End file.
